I hope you don't plan on having too many live plants because the eel will kill even the most well rooted of plants. Even if you have an active eel he will burry himself when he is scared. All I can say is de-rooted.
Discus with Fire Eel
- Thread starter AmputatedBrain
- Start date
Robertshadow;1705616; said:
Now that's not entirely true. I love eels, especially fire eels. I've spent a lot of time looking up info on them. I had one for over 10 years (tragic accident I wont go into). Eels have their own particularities. And I'm currently trying to decide the details on getting some discus for my big tank that was mainly bought for my eel. (My opinion) Eels tend to burrow when if they feel like it. Uprooting plants but not necessarily killing them. Right now I have my fire eel in my 55g that is heavily planted. Sometimes he won't dig any up for months, sometimes it's daily. They plants are not really harmed, but it's not really fun to replant them and a bit unsightly when the roots are every where. Most information on fire eels consider them plant friendly. Unlike my clown loaches who get along fine and share a cave with my fire eel. The clown loaches have taken an interest in munching my plants quite often leaving lots of holes in the leafs. Yes I do know that it is the loaches doing this, and despite my efforts with blood worms, sinking pellets, algae wafers, and having snails in the tank they seem to still like the plants.
Fire eels raised with smaller fish (guppies, neons) don't usually bother with them. Often around a certain size (I'd have to look up my notes but I think its close to 12 inches or so), these little fish being so bite size and all could easily become food. Rather like a learned thing. My biggest fears about keeping a fire eel with discus is the temperature. Discus prefer a slightly higher temperature than recommended for fire eels. Not too big of an issue but I'm wondering about the long term effects of slightly non ideal temp on the two species to figure out the exact temp to set the tank at.
But more seriously I would highly recommend quarantine of both the discus and eel. And introduction after both are eating well. Eels will need hiding places to feel secure especially if you don't want them diving into the substrate and uprooting plants all the time. PVC pipes are often used, but not too pretty. Eels are scaleless so please mind the sharp corners (sand or smaller gravel recommended) and medications. Eels are escape artists. Strongly suggest a tight fitting lid. Often thought missing and later found in filters and overflow boxes. I saw pictures somewhere of a fire eel stuck in the output of a FX5, I'm working on installing screen or something to prevent this on my tank. They are nocturnal, often can the trained around this but I usually feed at night. Fire eels can also reach quite an impressive size. Can grow quickly and don't let them gorge themselves. Cutting earthworms into segments of 2 inches, fire eels have reportedly drowned (more likely suffocated) while feeding on very long night crawlers.
Larger fire eels do not tolerate their own species well. Exceptions of course are to be found, but don't count on it. Information differs slightly on max size. 75 to 100 cm seems accepted, but the largest I have personally seen was a pair kept together at a store in Ca that were closer to 4 feet in length. 55 cm is more common. Fire eels are a carnivore accepting a variety of food from tubifex, fish, brine shrimp, mosquito larvae, bloodworms, mussels, prawn, cockle, krill, shrimp, earthworms, ect.
Sorry looks like I'm running at the mouth again. lol Hope this helps.
Oh I knew I was forgetting something. A 55g tank with 5 juvenile discus, small school tetras, corys and a fire eel seems a bit crowded. Especially when those fish grow. Might be fine at first, but plan on an upgrade. I'm working out the details of my 180g for my fire eel and discus. I'd like to try more than one eel, a school of tetras, and ten discus. My budget isn't cooperating though, so I may have just the one eel, my kuhlis, a few bristlenose, ottos, 6 discus, and work on a school of tetras of some sort later. (Side note. All the fish but discus and tetras are already together peacefully.)
^^well put. Quarantine is a must considering the price of all those fish. As for the plants, I only have anubias growing on rocks and my eel is not very interested. It's really only interested in me walking up to the tank and tossing in some shrimp. Good point about the small pieces: I tried to just throw it an entire shrimp and it gagged on it about 3 times before I pulled it out and cut it up. Now, I just feed from the surface. Anyone ever feed your eel by hand? Anyone ever been bitten by a large fire eel? I am a little intimidated to feed my guy by hand = )
SoCalDiscus;1698605; said:
I think I saw the same eel for the same price- Can you describe the store?
Fire eel will bust a 55G. Easy.
knobhill;1707148; said:
Quote:
Originally Posted by SoCalDiscus
Wow, reading this post was fate. I just saw a good size fire eel the other day and was thinking about it...
Here comes a minor derail- sorry in advance AmputatedBrain.
-Are they cool (don't mind the pun) with 84 degree water? The discus have to come first.
-Is 100 bux for a ~20+ incher fair? I'm not 100% on the size because I wasn't really considering it at the time I saw him. But, he was big.
Thanks
I used to hand feed, back in the day when I fed mostly live tubifex. Never been bitten (but this was not with very large eels), they tend more to root with their noses then suck things into their mouths. I'm sure most people could be amazed with how suddenly they can slurp up pieces of worms. Mine tend to have been surprisingly gentle. My old eel even trained us to feed him. He'd dance around the same corner of the tank and make a noise. Not truly him making the noise, he'd suck at the surface or something that caused it. That was him telling us he was hungry, it was a particular noise. lol I also always tapped the tank trim 3 times before feeding, and (when he was older) would come out to be fed.
What type of shrimp are you feeding? No real reason for me asking, other than for my notes on what keepers have successfully fed.
Recommended temperature varies according to the source. I did go back through my notes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_eel Wikipedia seems to be accurate, but the temp is also in the higher range compared to most other sources. 25-27C (77-80.6F) normal water temp 27-29C (80.6-84.2F) spawning.
I didn't get around to the conversion to F until making this post, according to the Fahrenheit to Celsius Converter http://www.wbuf.noaa.gov/tempfc.htm (first one search brought up) and if you trust what Wikipedia says.... I'm still a little reluctant to have my eel at 84F long term, I might try raising it slowly and see how it dose. Would growing Discus be ok with 82F?
$100 for a 20+ inch fire eel. Depends on your opinion and how badly you want the eel. Over the years I've seen 12-14inch marked for between $35-60 so 20+ inch sounds ok, little much for my budget but some people would be happy about it. Smaller ones I've seen for $13-22 (3-6inch). Most fire eels are wild caught, feeding at first is a common issue. And an eel that size, I wouldn't put in a 55g especially if you didn't want to stunt it, well maybe just for quarantine.
I feed mine thawed, uncooked, de-shelled shrimp. Each day I take 2 or 3 shrimp out of the freezer and put them in the refrigerator to replace the ones for feeding. That way, I have a fresh supply always on hand.
Last one I had would swim to the surface to be hand fed. Really miss him and am looking for another.
I have the tank all up and running now discus and all, everything is working fine. The Fire eel already eats from my hand, I have him on bloodworms as the staple of his diet . . . pretty greedy eater (he'll suck up the entire cube if I let him), but doesn't bother any of the other fish. The loaches and the pleco will occasionally co-inhabit his little cave with him and he doesn't seem to mind. He's about 4-5 inches long and I got for about 30 bucks. One recurring problem I've heard with these eels is them kamikazing out of the tank only to be found a smelly dried out mess the next morning . . .anyone else heard of this?
Also I have the water at 86 right now to better accomodate the Discus, and so far the eel seems unaffected although it's a little warmer than I've read they like
